374 THE FLORIST. 



left for the executive to determine the number, on the distinct under- 

 standing that for amateurs it should not exceed nine. I need not 

 remind you that the gentlemen who attended that meeting comprised 

 the possessors of the largest and best collections in private hands in the 

 kingdom. On the issue of the schedule in 1851 it was found that nine 

 was the number adopted ; so it continued in 1852. At the exhibition 

 in that year the unsightliness of the tube stands (of nines) was the 

 subject of general animadversion, and the cultivators then present 

 unanimously determined that in future the flowers should be exhibited 

 in boxes. But a box of nine blooms is very heavy and unsightly, 

 offending the eye only in a lesser degree than the bristling tubes. 

 Therefore, to admit of the use of twelve blooms, I proposed the adoption 

 of a duplicate or duplicates, so wording the schedule that variety in its 

 largest extent was nevertheless invited, where attainable. This arrange- 

 ment the York committee accepted, and the result was a demonstration 

 of its propriety, unless the almost general adoption of the permission 

 accorded is no indication of the difficulty which otherwise would have 

 existed. At Derby the result still more strikingly exemplified the 

 necessity for the rule ; for is it to be assumed the amateur, cultivatoi's 

 who contended upon that occasion are insensible to variety ? " Variety" 

 which from their schooldays upwards they have learnt " is charming ! " 

 Variety, which of all men the florist most incessantly seeks ! 



Another test may yet be applied. When, in 1849, I stood by your 

 side as you " got up " your two stands of twenty-four blooms each for 

 the Royal South London exhibition, at the Surrey Gardens, I well 

 remember your remark, in reply to some encomiums of mine, " I 

 never showed but one twenty-four blooms that pleased me." Now 

 there are not twelve amateurs in the kingdom regularly cultivating a 

 stock exceeding one-fourth of that cultivated at the Royal Nursery, or 

 with one-half of its variety. And the immense majority of culti- 

 vators, those upon whom the fortune of the National must mainly 

 depend, are limited to one-half of this. If, therefore, you cannot show 

 twenty-four blooms, is it reasonable to require from a stock, the tenth 

 part of yours only, twelve blooms ? In my own experience I have 

 shown but one collection of twelve dissimilar blooms unaccompanied 

 with "marked inferiority." And eminent as is your experience, 

 admitted and respected your ability, I have a right to put forward 

 my experience for the amateur before yours. You can only imagine, I 

 can appeal to facts. Therefore, as I do sincerely desire the National 

 Carnation and Picotee Society may flourish, as I hope every succeeding 

 exhibition may equal or surpass its predecessors, I urgently exhort the 

 coming executive not to be misled by your over-hasty advice. They 

 must remember the true way to promote competition is, not in rising 

 to the measure of the strong, but in scooping to the ability of the weak. 



Derhj. E. S. DoDWELL. 



[We are always pleased to receive a communication from our friend 

 Mr. Dodwell, altliough in the present instance we are at a loss to 

 discover the pith of his communication, or exactly admire the tone of 

 it. We merely stated tha,t by removing the date of the show from the 



